Finding Gold In Michigan??

[saboken]

I purchased a Milelabs equinox 800 in Quartzite AZ, I'm staying at a family ranch in SW Michigan for the summer it has a nice stream running through the 200 acres of land all for my private enjoyment.  Any help on the likelyhood of gold in the part of the state? I'm just a few miles north of the Indiana border and South Bend.  I marked where the stream travels through the property. Sorry I had to Black out personal information the family member that owns it doesn't want its exact location published.  I know I'll probably find coin and jewelry it's been used for camping, snowmobiles and a horse ranch for decades back to the 40s  just wondering if gold is possible in this part of the state ? Chicago is only 112 Miles away going around the bottom of Lake Michigan . I have until fall to search as much as I can before it's going up for sale. There is a old cemetery on the property also but I'm a little creeped out about swinging a Detector in there. Probably lots ot stuff dropped over the years it dates back to the early 1800s  maybe I'll just swing the outside perimeter of it but not inside the iron fencing. Nobody had public access to it. Basically forgotten. Sorry for all the questions I'm really new at this and this opportunity was unexpected.

[Valens Legacy]

% years ago my grandfather and I found some flour gold near the St. Joseph river , so if your creek runs to that river you may find some gold there.

We were panning and then ran the sluice, because there was no big nuggets around.

Good luck and good hunting.

[saboken]

1 hour ago, Valens Legacy said:

% years ago my grandfather and I found some flour gold near the St. Joseph river , so if your creek runs to that river you may find some gold there.

We were panning and then ran the sluice, because there was no big nuggets around.

Good luck and good hunting.

It might? If so probably in Indiana. I can't follow it that far on the map for some reason? It seems to stop a few miles off the property. Maybe it goes underground? I don't know if streams do that in this area. Like they do in Pennsylvania.

[GB_Amateur]

There's a Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) chapter in Michigan (found here) :

(I think 'Remis' is spelled wrong -- Remus in Google Maps.)  Remus is in the center of the lower penninsula.  You could call or email this person and probably get some advice/info.

There is/was a LDMA (national club) camp in Athens which isn't terribly far from you:

That shows there is gold in the area.  As to whether or not it's in the creek you've illustrated, it may be up to you to do some panning to find out.  Most gold found in the Great Lakes states and Midwest is tiny, but detectable gold isn't out of the question.  "Getting down to bedrock" is the mantra to find the largest pieces, but often that isn't possible without the right equipment (e.g. dredges and diving gear).  If you can find any exposed bedrock, search the cracks with whatever method you have available.  General rules-of-thumb for where gold drops out during flooding applies.

[glacialgold]

8 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Most gold found in the Great Lakes states and Midwest is tiny, but detectable gold isn't out of the question.  "Getting down to bedrock" is the mantra to find the largest pieces, but often that isn't possible without the right equipment (e.g. dredges and diving gear)

I'd echo GB here, 100%. And it's a real positive point in your favor that you are starting with a Minelab Equinox 800, which is a fantastic and versatile machine. Gold prospecting mode on the 800 is a serious top contender for hunting even tiny nuggets, but it's also a great option for micro gold jewelry in parks and playgrounds.

I've panned out some small nuggets/fat flakes here in Indiana at the glacial boundary (right on bedrock), and they ring out just fine on the 800 in Gold mode. Tiny things, maybe 0.05g maximum. Granted, those only hit on the 800 at like 3" on the 6" coil, but they do ring out. Coarser stuff like these flakes and nuggets are likely going to be close or on bedrock, and my understanding is you have depth of glacial till covering most/all of Michigan. 

That said, with the Equinox 800 you also have an incredible machine for coin and relic hunting -- and it has tailored functionality for saltwater beaches -- so you aren't confined to just gold. Hit some parks, playgrounds, fields, etc. -- wherever human activity existed, the older the better, and you can find all kinds of fun things in dirt.

For example, the only silver I've found thus far was in my own backyard (1963 Roosevelt dime, almost 10" down) and it came from trying out the Equinox 800 for roughtly 5 minutes right out of the box, even though I'd pounded the yard with an Ace 400 for years.